Sunday, February 28, 2010

If you missed the webcasts from Jaws and Hookipa last week, we're putting up the archive videos for you to view. So, kick back, get some popcorn and enjoy the action!

Note - these files are LONG and unedited. You're looking at the EXACT frame rate and resolution that we broadcasted in. We'll get to editing the hours and hours of raw high res video down to a highlight reel, but until then, enjoy the archives!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

I know neon is all the rage, but I gotta say, this monochromatic setup I rode my first day was a sweet setup for light winds and a growing swell.

First, the rig. Since its introduction, I've been a fan of the Goya Eclipse. Levi's signature sail offers amazing low end power, fingertip handling yet you can tune it down in when the wind fills in. Lots of sails claim low end power with high end handling, but the Eclipse delivers. Compared to my Goya Wave3D's, the Eclipse has the power and handling of the W3D's, but with the added softness of the Guru's. Jason has created one of the best sails I've ever ridden, hands down. (gee, ya think I'm impressed?) Rumor is that the 2011 version will be lighter and more responsive.

I picked the 92 liter Quatro Wave for its float, but also its longer rail line for the larger swell that was inbound. You'd be hard pressed to find a better big wave, light air board out there. This board drives the line with power and control, but you don't get this performance without a compromise somewhere. And that somewhere is speed. Its like driving a truck in 4W low. Its powers up, and then stops accelerating. This board ins't made for jumping and planing upwind, its made for pure down the line wave performance. Period. Typical of Keith's boards, its very well balanced to give the rider amazing turns on the lip with the power to get in and out of deep wave sections with confidence. It doesn't quite have the snappiness of pocket power of the quad, but it offers big wave turns that quads have difficulties with. Interesting to note, that with its slow board speed, it loads the rig up with the unused power. This has an interesting side effect in that you can run with a smaller sail than you'd think giving you better handling on the wave with the smaller sail. A sweet design outcome indeed!

I'd like to thank everyone for not only tuning in to the 4 hour webcast today, but also for your patience as we dealt messed with settings, etc. in order to make the webcast viewing as smooth and high resolution as possible. From what we can tell, this was the first ever webcast from Jaws, and its not gonna be the last!

We had viewers from around the globe from the UK, France, mainland US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. All tallied - we had visitors from 51 countries for the webcast! (I think I saw that Alex had the stream on the projector in his Astronomy class of 300 students. Thanks Alex!)

Special thanks to the data center guys (Mark and Mike) for keeping everything running.

And super special thanks to our EpicSessions camera operator (pictured here), and professional sailor Jake Miller. Not only does he look good on camera, he is amazing behind the eyepiece as well.

We're working on the next webcast which looks like Thursday as the trades return to the north shore and the swell will still be pumping.

Hey folks - the NWS is forecasting that..."Surf along north facing shores will rise to 20 to 28 feet tonight and Tuesday."... and we're all loaded up and ready to hit the bluff early tomorrow morning. After a late night Walmart run for some last minute odds and ends, we're all loaded up and ready to go. Some of the locals have been checking in with us, and we should have a good crew for tomorrow's webcast. Not quite true epic Jaws conditions by their standards, but I'm sure we'll get some killer rides for our worldwide viewing audience.

We'll be doing some video testing in the early morning (HST time) and we'd like some feedback on the quality of the webcast that you're seeing not only for our tweaking on the VERY remote bluff at Peahi, but also for our intrepid data center operations team who will be minding the video clusters back on the mainland.

If you are on the island, we'd love to have you stop by and say hi to the crew tomorrow.

And we'd like to give a special shout out to Troy and Cindy at Spreckshouse for our awesome accommodations while we're on the north shore. You can save 10% off of your Maui bookings just by telling Cindy you found Spreckshouse on EpicSessions!

Monday, February 22, 2010

The EpicSessions.tv crew will be on the bluff at Peahi early on Tuesday morning. The swell should be fading throughout the day with the best sets before noon HST. We should begin broadcasting around 8am HST, though you should check back often in case we start early with good lighting and surf conditions.

There is another swell event for later in the week, peaking on Friday that has the potential to be larger than Tuesday's event. Stay tuned as the forecast firms up later in the week for this one.

On Thursday, we'll be webcasting live from Hookipa and Lanes for some epic windsurfing action and possibly from kite beach earlier in the day. Let us know in the comments box below and be sure to join our page on Facebook!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Theres a massive swell inbound for the Hawaiian Islands for early next week, and if the forecast holds, Jaws could fire on Tuesday. If that happens, we'll be livecasting from the bluff at Peahi in the first ever live webcast of a major swell event at Jaws.

The webcast will be at EpicSessions.tv, and more information will be posted here and there as we get closer to the event.

UPDATE!There's a second, bigger wave event now on the forecast for later next week! And the trades will be back as well so there's some AMAZING potential for truly epic conditions. STAY TUNED!